Mr. Speaker, I stand here
tonight to plead the cause of economy. It may be, at some other time and
under other circumstances, I may take a directly opposite position. But
tonight, I speak on behalf of military economy and retrenchment.

The Secretary of State for
War is asking -- indeed, demanding -- a great deal of money. I do not
think he should have it. I say it humbly but with, I hope, becoming
pride, no one has a better right to this position than I have. For it is
a cause I have inherited. And it is a cause for which the late Lord
Randolph
Churchill made the greatest sacrifice of any Minister of modern
times.

I am glad the House has
allowed me, after an interval of 15 years, to lift again the tattered
flag that I found lying on a stricken field.

It is quite recent history,
Lord Randolph was Chancellor of the
Exchequer, Lord
Salisbury was Prime Minister, as he is now, and on this same issue of
economy Lord Randolph Churchill went down -- forever. But wise words,
Sir, stand the test of time. And his words were wise.

I have frequently been
surprised, since I have been in this House, to hear with what composure,
and how glibly, Members, and even Ministers, talk of a European war. I
say, Sir, we must not regard modern war as a kind of game in which we
may take a hand, and with good luck and good management play a adroitly
for an evening; and, when we have had enough, come safely home with our
winnings.

Oh, no, Sir. It is no longer a game. A European war cannot be anything
but a cruel and heart-rending struggle which, if we are ever to enjoy the
bitter fruits of victory, must demand, perhaps for years, the whole
manhood of the nation, the entire suspension of peaceful industries, and the
concentrating to only one end of every vital agency in the community.

Ah, yes, it may be that the
human race is doomed, never to learn from its mistakes. We are the only
animals on this globe who periodically set out to slaughter each other
for the best, the noblest, the most inescapable of reasons. We know
better. But we do it again and again in generation after generation. It
may be that our empire, too, is doomed -- like all those that have gone
before it -- to continue to spew and waste its best blood on foreign soil,
no matter what we say or do in this place, or think, or believe, or have
learned from history.

But, thank God for us, there
is still such a thing as moral force. And in spite of every calumny and
lie, it is known that upon the whole -- and it is upon the whole that
such things must be judged -- British influence is a healthy and a
kindly influence.

And so I say, Sir, at this
particular moment in history, we would make a fatal bargain if we
allowed a moral force, which this country has for so long exerted, to
become diminished, or perhaps destroyed for the sake of a costly,
trumpery, dangerous, military playthings upon which the Secretary of
State for War has set his heart.